Ganeshotsav: God may take no-entry route for exit

With majority of the immersion routes are laden with potholes, Ganesh mandals have decided to use “no-entry-roads” for the immersion procession to give the Elephant God a smooth ride.

Narendra Dahibavkar, president of Sarvajanik Ganeshotav Samanvay Samiti, said: “We are not satisfied with the pothole-filling works of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and other agencies, including the PWD and MSRDC. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had promised to make city roads pothole free before the Ganeshotsav. But the picture has not changed even after the fourth day of the Ganesha festival.”

He said, “We are less hopeful now. Potholes are very much part of the city roads. Therefore, we have asked the traffic department to change the regular immersion route allowing us to use the no-entry-routes. It has revealed that these no-entry-routes have less number of potholes.”

There are 12,000 sarvajanik and 2 lakh ghargutti Ganesh mandals in the city. Senior civic officials said they are working on a war footing to fill the potholes. “There are only 325 potholes remained unattended across the city. We are optimistic that these potholes will be repaired soon. But due to continuous rainfall, our pothole repair work is getting affected. The traffic department is also not cooperating. We have asked them not to release the traffic at least for four hours after repairing work . But no one is listening,” he said on condition of anonymity.

BMC standing committee chairman Rahul Shewale said the civic body is committed to attend the potholes before the final mass Ganesh immersion day.

“I am paying visit to all major routes from where the immersion is likely to take place. We also do not like to give a bumpy ride to Lord Ganesha. Now, we do not face fund crunch. We have told the ward officials to use the required fund to attend the potholes on time," he said.

"BMC officials are blaming the traffic department and vice-versa. Actually, we do not want this kind of blame game. We want pothole-free roads for the Ganesha immersion. In the next couple of days, we will meet the chief minister  again and demand that no-entry-route should be allowed for the Ganesha immersion,” Dahibavkar said.

V Phansalkar, joint commissioner of police (traffic), was not available for comment.

When contacted, traffic department officials said it is very difficult to allow 12,000 and 2 lakh gharguti Ganesh mandals to use the no-entry-route for immersion at this juncture.

“The immersion routes are already fixed and booklets are also issued. It will be a tough task to rework on immersion routes. The city traffic will go haywire by disturbing the regular traffic flow,” he added.